What is going on in Wisconsin is being backed by the Democrat party AND your own President, Obama, the GREAT UNITER...wake up people.
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SNIP:
By Steve McCann
The "Madison Uprising" is the beginning of the end of the incestuous relationship between government and the unions. That fact has been recognized by the public sector unions and the Democratic Party and is why they have pulled out all the stops and reverted to their 1960's playbook in order to maintain the status quo. However, it is a battle that the unions and the Democratic Party will lose regardless of the immediate outcome in Wisconsin.

The Democratic Party has sold its soul to the public sector unions. In the 2010 mid-term election, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees poured over $87 million dollars into the election. (A new spending record). AFSCME's $87 million was greater than the campaign spending by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($75 million) and American Crossroads ($65 million). Other public sector unions also ratcheted up their spending such as SEIU ($44 million) and the National Education Association ($40 million).

The three major public sector unions spent over $171 million in the 2010 election plus an estimated $250 million equivalent value of so-called volunteer activity such as get out the vote efforts, door-to-door campaigning and poll watching.

There is nothing wrong with private people or organizations, including private unions, spending money on political campaigns as institutional sources are disclosed. However, AFSCME, the NEA, the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) or the public union sector of SEIU are government employees. Their salaries are paid by the taxpayers and a portion of their salaries go to union dues which are slush funds for political activity and the promotion of left-wing causes. In 2008 the NEA and the AFT made contributions and grants totaling over $96 million of union dues; all to liberal organizations irrespective of the desires of the rank and file or the taxpayer.

It is wholly inappropriate for public employees to spend dues money on political contributions. Public officials are chosen through popular elections and the government employee should be indifferent as to the outcome of the election. However, by maintaining such a heavy hand in not only monetary contributions but election activity the politician becomes too dependent upon the union largess and is essentially blackmailed into acquiescing to all the demands of the union, particularly pay and benefits which have sky-rocketed and are now unsustainable.

President Franklin Roosevelt, the Progressive icon, recognized this problem back in 1937. In a letter to Luther Steward, then President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, he wrote that "meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government". He went on to say that government employees should not have bargaining rights or a closed shop similar to private sector unions.

SNIP:
By: Mark Tapscott 01/28/11 7:16 AM
Editorial Page Editor
President Obama is garnering lots of critical attention for his recently signed executive order directing federal agencies to conduct what appears to be a purely symbolic review their regulations for their economic impact, but another presidential document he signed nearly two years ago is anything but figurative.

The document is Executive Order 13522, aka "Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services." As RedState's Labor Union Report notes, this EO was signed when the nation was distracted by the Obamacare debate.

What the EO means, however, is that Obama "has turned over a significant portion of the Executive Branch of the United States government to union bosses." This could be the most significant federal policy decision regarding federal labor-management relations since President Kennedy signed the first EO in 1962 granting representatial rights to federal employee unions.

RedState quotes from a guidance document distributed recently to federal political appointees and career civil service managers that stipulates the following:

"As stated in the Executive Order, 'Management should discuss workplace challenges and problems with labor and endeavor to develop solutions jointly, rather than advise union representatives of predetermined solutions to problems and then engage in bargaining over the impact and implementation of the predetermined solutions.'

"Therefore, it is imperative that management immediately engage unions on an ongoing basis consistent with the spirit and intent of the Executive Order."

In other words, Obama has given veto power on federal policy to the bosses running the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

As dangerous and destructive as that decision is, I guess nobody should be surprised that Obama and his advisors were careful to write the EO in such a manner as to exempt agencies under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from having to disclose documents that shed light on how this new management process actually functions.

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By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to establish a cooperative and productive form of labor-management relations throughout the executive branch, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. Federal employees and their union representatives are an essential source of front-line ideas and information about the realities of delivering Government services to the American people. A nonadversarial forum for managers, employees, and employees' union representatives to discuss Government operations will promote satisfactory labor relations and improve the productivity and effectiveness of the Federal Government. Labor-management forums, as complements to the existing collective bargaining process, will allow managers and employees to collaborate in continuing to deliver the highest quality services to the American people. Management should discuss workplace challenges and problems with labor and endeavor to develop solutions jointly, rather than advise union representatives of predetermined solutions to

The purpose of this order is to establish a cooperative and productive form of labor-management relations throughout the executive branch.

Sec. 2. The National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations. There is established the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations (Council).

(a) Membership. The Council shall be composed of the following members appointed or designated by the President:

(i) the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), who shall serve as Co-Chairs of the Council;

(ii) the Chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority;

(iii) a Deputy Secretary or other officer with department- or agency-wide authority from each of five executive departments or agencies not otherwise represented on the Council, who shall serve for terms of 2 years;

(iv) the President of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO;

(v) the President of the National Federation of Federal Employees;

(vi) the President of the National Treasury Employees Union;

(vii) the President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, AFL-CIO;

(viii) the heads of three other labor unions that represent Federal employees and are not otherwise represented on the Council, who shall serve for terms of 2 years;

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